


Empty Wednesdays and Christmas Gifts

by jksaegi



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28537938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jksaegi/pseuds/jksaegi
Summary: Yeojin spent the last weeks stressed because of Hyejoo, her best friend. Everybody that has met Hyejoo knows that there are two things she loves: gaming and spending time with Yeojin. But, recently, she’s always locked up in her bedroom, to the extreme of not even leaving to let her best friend come in, just asks her mom to say that she’s busy. Yeojin, knowing Hyejoo like the back of her hand, knows she’s way too involved with video games and feels replaced. A Christmas gift, though, changes her point of view.
Relationships: Im Yeojin/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Kudos: 25





	Empty Wednesdays and Christmas Gifts

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Quartas-Feiras Vazias e Presentes de Natal](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/737406) by loonartist (jksaegi). 



> i know it's been some time since christmas came and went, but this is a fanfic of mine that i've posted in another platform last year, so i decided to translate it and post here too. there may be a few mistakes, i'm sorry for that. happy 2021!

It’s been three wednesday nights since the last movie night between Im Yeojin and Son Hyejoo. How does Yeojin know? Everything is noted in the calendar fixed behind her bedroom ‘s door. Wednesdays are the days in which they always meet up, a pattern carefully chosen in middle school so they could see each other at least once a week, even if they’re swamped by homework. It’s almost a sacred date to Yeojin and her supposed best friend. Supposed, because who would leave her hanging, break their tradition like this? A real friend would never do such a thing.

Hyejoo’s game addiction has never been a problem to the younger of the two, even more with Yeojin herself loving playing as a distraction, although their tastes aren’t that similar. It bothers her even less since she knows that if there are two things Hyejoo loves to do, these are gaming and spending time with her little Yeo. Or he thought she knew, now she doubts everything related to that traitor.

Because it’s been three wednesday nights since the last time they’ve exchanged more than a few texts and if this isn’t a sign that Hyejoo doesn’t care about their friendship, she doesn’t know what is.

The first time Hyejoo refused to see her, she didn’t throw a fit like her mother anticipated, as the duo was glued whenever they could and separating them would have the same effect as breaking an arm or something of the sort. The girl pretended not to care; her friend could be simply having a bad day — a thought that made her feel restless with the possibility of Hyejoo not trusting her enough to share her frustrating experiences — or, perhaps, she could be feeling ill. Yeojin decided to leave her alone and went home to watch a movie in her bed hugging Peach, her frog plushie, a gift from Hye.

In the following days, she grabbed each and every opportunity of calling her companion to hang out, yet the most meaningful thing she received was a Kakao Talk saying “busy, can’t go out today”. Now that Yeojin thinks about it, maybe she took the word ‘today’ way too seriously, as the next two weeks passed without even a single signal coming from Hyejoo. And that made Yeojin furious.

Didn’t take too long for her to conclude that this whole issue had a single villain: Hye’s games. This guess kept hammering her head ever since the first friday without her best friend, but her brain denied, Yeojin wouldn’t believe she was being replaced by a machine. A machine! How could this be real? Not even a cute and friendly bot, an easygoing android like Kara from Detroit: Become Human or something. No, it was a stupid console. When she finally accepted that those games were more meaningful to her partner rather than her presence, she decided to put a halt to this. She didn’t need Son Hyejoo! As time went on, she regretted more and more the fact that she chose to spend her days with that ungrateful girl instead of having fun with her neighbors that always invited her to go to cool places with them. Her decision was set in stone: from that moment on, she’d be Choi Yerim’s and Park Chaewon’s bestest friend.

With this plan set up, Yeojin didn’t go after her. Hyejoo needed to learn a lesson.

Christmas Eve’s morning, Yeojin is drawing a red X in the tiny square that represents December 23rd in her calendar, glaring at the wednesdays Hyejoo bailed on their meetups, when an innocent doorbell ring wakes her up from those angering memories. She bolts down the stairs, yells “I’ll get it” in the way she always does. When she opens the door though, there’s no one standing there, probably a prank by Mrs. Yoon’s children, her neighbors. The petite girl rolls her eyes, but pauses when her peripheral vision registers a colorful and vibrant package. A gift waits for someone to pick it up in front of her bare feet — if her mom saw it, she’d get an earful — which she hopes it’s hers.

Taking the object in hands, she pats the packaging trying to find a note or tag that indicates who it is for at the same time she analyzes it with her excited gaze. And there it is: a delicate sticker with an “Yeojin” written by a familiar handwriting after the “To:”. She doesn’t let herself fall for this apparent affection — it’s what she says, even though it’s a bold-faced lie — coming from her best friend. Hyejoo will need many, many gifts to get her back.

Curious, she closes the door with a bang and runs again, now back to her room, the box safe in her left hand. She doesn’t take long to sit in her bed and, without any delay, pull the bow decorating it. There’s no patience for ceremonies in her brain.

To be quite honest, Yeojin doesn’t know what she expected, but this isn’t it. There, inside the box, there’s a canvas with a breathtaking art stamped on it, probably in oil paint with the way the colors interact. It takes a few seconds for her to notice that it isn’t a simple painting. It’s a portrait. A portrait of Im Yeojin.

Analyzing it, Yeojin realizes it depicts her smiling in one of the swings located at the park two blocks away from her house. Even though the scenario isn’t that detailed, she’d recognize it from afar. But it’s when her gaze travels to the lower right corner of the canvas that she finds a signature: Olivia Hye.

Suddenly, everything halts. The world around Yeojin seems to stop. Olivia Hye is a known name — at least, she knows it —, the one Hyejoo always joked that it’d be her artistic name one day. Now, holding the painting, Yeojin holds back a smile. Olivia Hye is, in fact, an artist.

The girl doesn’t hesitate to hurry until her house’s front door, barely being able to put her shoes on since she’s so excited, and to yell “Mom, I’ll be right back” before running through the sidewalks. She had been really unfair to the one person she’d always called soulmate and now it was her duty to apologize. But how can anyone blame her? The last thing that’d go through her head would be Son Hyejoo, the one that spends hours on end gaming, being stuck in her room trying to capture her ‘tiny frog princess’ into an artwork.

As soon as she stops in front of family Son’s door, she knocks repeatedly, receiving an irritated “I’m going” as an answer. Classic Hyejoo and her morning mood. Yeojin quickly fixes her look: pulls her pajama shirt to even the fabric, passes her fingers through her hair, calms her breathing down.

Hyejoo, also wearing pajamas, opens the door with a bored semblance, but her face lights up as soon as her eyes find the younger. Yeojin scolds her own mind for ever thinking that she’s not special to Hye. She sees her friend’s timid smile, notices that she knows Yeojin opened her present.

— Won’t you let me in, huh? — Her voice doesn’t carry any malice, even more with the smile resting on her lips mirroring Hyejoo’s. The older rolls her eyes, but her fondness is clear as day.

Her answer is her friend opening space so she can enter the space. Yeojin sits down on the couch that has a grape juice couch that’s been there from the day they both laughed too much and dropped a third of the content of Hyejoo’s cup on. The smile makes her even happier. When Hyejoo locks the door and sits down by her side, Yeojin empties her chest.

— I came to apologize. These last weeks, I was super mad at you. I thought you were ignoring me to keep gaming and called you a horrible friend many times, I even decided to ignore you until you came back. So, I’m sorry. I didn’t trust our friendship enough — she says with her head hanging low. A playful push in her shoulder makes her look up.

— You’re an idiot, did you know that? I’d never abandon you, but I had a surprise to hide! Do you know how hard it was to paint that? I don’t even know how many canvases I gave up on. — Hyejoo takes a deep breath and holds Yeojin’s hand. — I knew you’d get upset. I’m sorry for that.

— Apology accepted. By the way, thanks for the gift, I loved it, I really did. — She throws her body into Hyejoo’s arms, promptly being hugged back. A few beats of silence go on, only Im Yeojin and Son Hyejoo enjoying themselves.

— Where’s my gift?

— Huh? Your gift? — Yeojin stutters. The younger lets go of the hug with her cheeks colored tomato-red. — I… left it at home.

— Who’s the horrible friend now? — Hyejoo receives a push from Yeojin just like she did to the girl before.

— Son Hyejoo!

— I’m joking, dummy. — Yeojin’s heart goes warm with Hyejoo’s loud laughter, it makes this whole mess worth it. — Hey, Yeo.

— Yeah?

— I’ll never replace you. I love you. Thanks for being my favorite Christmas gift.

Yeojin only answers by starting another hug.


End file.
